Marine protected areas in South Asia
South Asia: Marine protected areas was 0.4% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Marine protected areas in South Asia, 2013–2025
Source: Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM), UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring. Measured in % of territorial waters.
Analysis
South Asia recorded 0.4% for marine protected areas in 2025. That is the highest value across all 13 years on record.
That represents a change of up 10.4% on the previous year and up 72.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, marine protected areas in South Asia peaked at 0.4% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 0.2%, in 2013.
That places South Asia 44th out of 45 groups with data for 2025, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 13 years of available data.
Marine protected areas in South Asia, year by year
| Year | % of territorial waters | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 0.2% | — |
| 2014 | 0.3% | +16.7% |
| 2015 | 0.3% | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 0.3% | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 0.3% | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 0.3% | +9.5% |
| 2019 | 0.3% | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 0.3% | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 0.3% | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 0.3% | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 0.3% | +20.7% |
| 2024 | 0.4% | +17.9% |
| 2025 | 0.4% | +10.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 7 |
| 2020s | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 6 |
Countries ranked near South Asia
More climate change data for South Asia
- Population growth 0.9% (2025)
- Population, total 1.69 billion (2025)
- Urban population growth 1.8% (2025)
- Urban population 605.70 million (2025)
- Urban population 35.8% (2025)
- Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million 16.8% (2025)
- Annual freshwater withdrawals, total 706.16 billion cubic meters (2022)
- Annual freshwater withdrawals, total 37.6% (2022)
- Terrestrial protected areas 9.2% (2025)
- Terrestrial and marine protected areas 4.6% (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is marine protected areas in South Asia?
- Marine protected areas in South Asia was 0.4% in 2025, according to Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM), UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring.
- What is the highest marine protected areas recorded in South Asia?
- The highest recorded value was 0.4% in 2025.
- What is the lowest marine protected areas recorded in South Asia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2% in 2013.
- How does South Asia rank for marine protected areas?
- South Asia ranks 44th out of 45 groups with data for 2025.
- Is marine protected areas rising or falling in South Asia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 72.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Asia data come from?
- The figures come from Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM), UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring, published as part of Marine protected areas (% of territorial waters). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 13 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Marine protected areas are areas of intertidal or subtidal terrain--and overlying water and associated flora and fauna and historical and cultural features--that have been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment.